The Crow have a number of stories that reference dinosaurs. They have stories about the methods they used to kill them, and about the last dinosaur killed in Yellowstone Park. Dinosaurs are even found in some of the lullabies sung to their children.
In Grant’s stories people often speak with animals as equals. These two stories both involve dinosaurs and the Missouri River. We learn first of a man who had a vision of a dinosaur. The dinosaur wanted to live a long, long time. How best to do that? Become part of the land – become a river!
In the next story, a war party comes upon an unusual sight, a sleeping dinosaur. Grant explains how the Crow would kill dinosaurs and then burn them. The harrowing story of “Shin Bone” is the tale a warrior who transgresses the taboo against eating the flesh of dinosaurs. It explains not only why we should refrain from eating such dangerous beasts but also why the rock formations of the Upper Missouri are perforated with so many holes and shattered land formations!
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